There are concerns around the small proportion of children who are vaccinated, with schools to open in the next few weeks.
The Taoiseach warned yesterday that the country has not hit the peak of the Delta wave, and that case numbers will likely continue to rise until next month.
Latest figures show a quarter of 12-15 year olds are partially vaccinated, while 65 per cent of 16-17 year olds have got at least a jab.
Professor Gerry Killeen is a UCC Professor and co-founder of the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group (ISAG) which advocates for zero Covid.
He feels the wrong decision has been made in not vaccinating many children.
Long Covid
Prof Killeen said: “We know that long Covid rates amongst children are in the region of 7 to 8 per cent, a minimum of 4 per cent, and you know 4 per cent might be a small proportion of a very large number of kids in the country and children rely on us as adults to make the right decisions to look after them and I just think those are the decisions we've got wrong over the summer.”
The Government is hopeful of easing restrictions later in September after it publishes a roadmap for further reopening on August 31st.
As The Irish Times reports, with schools and universities set to reopen early in September, coalition sources said they were hopeful of removing further restrictions later in the month, but which restrictions are being considered for removal is not yet clear.
